To Love a Child
by Wacky Walnut
Summary: An earthquake hits Edge and Vincent finds Marlene alive, much to his relief. Sad/slightly cute Marlene and Vincent friendship. One Shot


To Love a Child

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII at all and never will do. Belongs to Square Enix.

Authors Note: This is a sad little piece that I came up with one night, a bit on the morbid side I'm afraid but hopefully quite cute in some sense as well. It may lead onto some Vincent/Marlene fluff but I honestly don't know.

--

The news had shocked the world, sent everyone into a quiet state of utter terror which was quickly followed by mass panic and rescue teams flooding to the area that had formally been Edge. Even Vincent could barely stop himself from rushing with countless others, finding his heart clenching with worry and the usual stoic face creased with emotion. Before he made it three miles, Vincent knew that there would be nothing other than death to greet him but he had to keep going. The crowd of people was so mixed that the ex-Turk was sure this was some form of horrible nightmare mixing itself with a surreal dream. There were the strongmen from the golden saucer, chocobo breeders from every corner of the world, diggers, surveyors, priests, WRO members and countless others seeking to find either friends or family or simply help in the wake of natural disaster. An earth quake was a pretty unpredictable event to deal with, even with all the equipment that was at their disposal.

Reaching the outskirts of the city, any last hope that had been held in his heart spluttered and died as Vincent stared. The entire place had been practically levelled to the ground and only a few twisted metal bracers stood above him and the others. He could hear sobbing; shouting and the steady grow of that desolate silence which could mean only one thing. The friends he had gained over the last few years were probably buried under the rubble in unrealised self-made graves. Turning away, he closed his crimson eyes, desperately trying to stop the tears that wished to fall. He hadn't cried in over thirty years but now it was pretty hard not to succumb. However a noise caught his attention long enough to quell the tears and in all the confusion, fear and weeping it sounded as clear as a bell.

"Uncle Vincent!" came Marlene's tender voice and instinctively he turned in the direction of it and found the ten-year-old rushing madly towards him, her pale dress stained with dust, tears and a small trickle of blood. Without realising it, Vincent had ran over to the girl and scooped her up into a tight hug. In any normal circumstance this would have been a pretty embarrassing moment for him but right now he was so glad to have found one of his friends alive that he would have danced about bar that was a little to far. She was wailing against his shoulder, gripping tightly onto the fabric of his cloak, "I want Papa! Tifa and Cloud!"

Shushing the child to the best of his abilities, the clawed hand brushing against her unusually rueful hair, Vincent had to choke back on the tears. Her words had confirmed his worst suspicions but didn't make the pill any easier to swallow. His shoulders shaking slightly, Vincent tried his best to calm her down but could barely speak. The change since Chaos had left him was remarkable when it came to emotions, not that Marlene would notice in the state she was in. "Vincent?" she asked quietly after a while, pulling back to look at his face before wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and crying harder than ever.

Reeve stopped Cid and Nanaki from going any closer to the pair, shaking his head slightly, "Leave them alone for a bit. I doubt either are going to be much help in searching at this stage"

Cid nodded slowly, shaking his head, "Just when we could have done with a heartless git an' all" he drawled before staring at the ruins. "Doubt that anyone's alive under all that lot…when that rocket came down on town…" the pilots words faded away before he hung his head and shook away the feelings.

Nanaki sighed and wove around the pair, "I'm not going to let them be alone through this. Don't start the search yet…do it at dawn Reeve"

--

The wind whistled through the makeshift town of tents that had been built by all the people who had come to offer help. The WRO had insisted that everyone stay away from the ruins until daybreak to allow any fires to burn themselves out and also to allow the life stream to claim those it needed. There was silence everywhere, hung with depression and waiting. Vincent and Marlene had taken to sitting on the top of a large rock, with the child sitting in the others lap and clinging tightly onto his arms. Neither had spoken a word for the last several hours, simply staring ahead at the town like so many more were doing. Nanaki leapt up beside them, rudely jabbing his head under Vincent's arm so that he could get closer to Marlene and offer comfort to both of them.

A short while later Cid wandered up, cigarette respectfully stamped out on the ground, and sat down next to them as well. Vincent hoped that the inevitable wasn't going to happen otherwise this would be the remains of AVALANCE. It wouldn't do for something like that to happen but the planet had a strange way of working. Slowly Marlene pointed and from the remains a small creeping green light appeared and sailed upwards. As they watched thousands more wound their way up into the sky, like long fine threads mixing together to form a blanket. Strands wheeled off, searching through the camp almost and then raising in front of some as if the last thoughts had been of those outside.

Several wound their way around the ground on the rock, seemingly playful and gentle. Vincent got the feeling that he could almost identify each strand but when he inadvertently reached out to touch one, it slipped away and rose into the sky with the rest of them. Finally the last strands faded and darkness crept over everything. Torches and fires were lit, their yellow and orange casting strange lights into the eyes of those who were still staring upwards and then a long mournful howl escaped from Nanaki's throat, frightening Cid out of his thoughts and bringing him back to the sobbing mess that was Marlene and strangely Vincent, though tears were just flowing down his face unchecked.

"Shit Vampy," sighed Cid, wrapping his arms around the pair of them, "Just when I could have done wit' ya" but he didn't finish the sentence, his own tears clouding his voice. There was little sleep that night, only the sounds of those mourning could be heard and if Vincent had not been with the others he was sure it would have driven him insane.

--

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Reeve asked for literally the thousandth time that day, eyeing Marlene with a little trepidation.

The ten-year old glared at him in a good natured way before nodding, "Yes. We're going to be fine. Uncle Vincent's place is not that creepy"

Reeve shook his head slowly, trying to conceal a laugh which wanted to escape his throat. This was definitely going to be an interesting situation to deal with in the next couple of months, "Sorry, I guess that I just never imagined Vincent as a family sort of man"

"Marlene" Vincent's voice, though still slightly tear stained, came through plainly enough to indicate that he wanted to leave right now before Reeve could ask anymore annoying questions.

Taking the hint, Reeve nodded to his rather wayward companion before returning to his desk to get on with the disturbing amount of paperwork that now existed before him.

Marlene raced to Vincent and took the offered hand, glad to see that Nanaki was also waiting to leave with them. Cid had promised to come and visit once everything was sorted out but the girl doubted that she would ever return to Edge. Silently they made their way through the camp, looking strangely content in each others company. Though Vincent knew little about raising children, he knew that he loved Marlene like a daughter and would protect her to whatever end that could come around.

"Uncle Vincent?" Marlene asked, as they left the camp.

Vincent looked down but didn't reply, his old habits coming back after so many tears had been shed. Marlene smiled and clasped his hand tighter, "Will we ever see them again?"

"One day Marlene" he answered quietly, continuing on down the road.

A.N - gah it's been a while since I've done something like this. Hopefully not too depressing but yeah. Anyway please review and tell me what you think.


End file.
